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Monday, July 27, 2009

lemon chicken

sometimes i get in the mood to make something with chicken which has no masala in it....though i have done it many times and the recipes are here in my archives....but this time i wanted to use my lemons....yes i am getting too many lemons from my garden and am finding ways to make more lemony treats.......so guys....this lemon chicken was my experiment with the humble chicken which turned out to be an instant success.......

i had to make it low fat and it had to be quick...you know these two criteria are so much my kind of cooking...he he...

to make it..... ( for about 350-400 gm chicken , 2 servings) i made a marinade which was more like a salad dressing.....grated zest of one big lemon , juice of the same lemon , a tsp of freshly crushed black peppercorns, salt to taste and a coarse paste of 4 cloves of garlic, an inch piece of ginger and 5 green chillies.....a spring of fresh oregano ( you'll need one more spring of oregano later)dry oregano can be used too

that's it....just mix and whisk al the ingredients together with a tablespoon of oil ( any oil) and keep aside.

now make slits into the fleshy parts of chicken ( most disgusting part for me) and toss into the marinad ...just as you would toss a salad in dressing ( i am surely going to use it that way too).

keep this aside for an hour.

after the marination time, pour everything into a thick bottomed pan ( no further addition of oil is needed ) and proceed cooking on very low heat ...because it is low fat it has to be cooked on low heat.....you can do it otherwise too....keep covered and toss and stir after every 5 minutes or so...when it gets cooked , it gets a nice crust and the inner meat is tender....

arrange on to a plate and it is ready to serve...with chilled bear.....and some crackers.... but wait......make it more interesting ....make it suitable to be had with chapatis....he he...rotti to khani hi padegi....

when you take out the prepared chicken from the pan , a lot of dressing..er...marinade is stuck to the pan because it has been cooked in very less oil......to get that flavorful stuff , pour 1/4 cup of water into the pan along with a spring of oregano and juice of one more lemon... give it a good boil ( if you want to make the dish shiny and satiny you can add a tsp of cornflour dissolved in a tbsp of water)....now the flavorful sauce is ready, pour over the chicken pieces and serve immediately with chapatis....

Lovely recipe. It sounds delicious. If you're looking for a stronger lemony flavor, add some lemongrass. It's use quite often in Vietnamese cuisine. All you need to do is chop the lemongrass very finely into a fine powder and add it to your chicken like you would with the lemon. Check out my veggie "chicken" version at http://www.phamfatale.com/id_96/title_Lemongrass-Tofu/

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Healthy cooking comes naturally if you love your ingredients . We all love good food but we can cook healthy good food only if we know about the ingredients , and how they work for our body and soul. Here i write about all the natural whole food , cooked in the most simple ways , the ways Ayurveda and Naturopathy approves and reinforces . If you believe in natural whole food which heals your body and soul , you would love this space . My cooking incorporates the principles of Ayurveda and Macrobiotic diet and my ingredients are all local and affordable . Healthy choices are not always beyond our means . The most unappetizing sounding ingredients can be cooked to take you to blissful lands . Come with me.